by the Early Childhood Education Initiative

In two previous columns, we described how ECEI has been an effective, collaborative public/private partnership over the past 10 years. We demonstrated, with evidence, that we have a robust and effective set of early childhood education experiences for all the preschool children on our island.

We also raised questions about the Transition to Kindergarten (TTK) preschool program being considered for adoption by OISD. We concluded that the program as described in the authorizing legislation was not intended or designed to fit the needs of our island. Finally, we asked the OISD board to consider a delay in applying for the TTK program so that a collaborative effort between the existing preschools, ECEAP, and qualified personnel from OISD can occur to assess and then address unmet needs of our children in a thoughtful way.

In this article, we put additional detail to these recommendations and restate our optimism about a path forward that will benefit our children and families. Our recommendations:

Delay any application for TTK funding for at least a year. Such a delay has no apparent downsides. Committed funding from federal programs, ECEI, and private scholarships, plus the fact of no wait lists in these preschool programs or shortage of ECEAP slots guarantees ample affordable access to our high quality independent preschool programs.

Have ECEI and OISD appoint and empower a collaborative ECE Work Group to: a) build trust through collaboration among qualified educators, b) have any unmet needs of children thoroughly and thoughtfully considered, c) develop strategies for meeting those needs that draw on full resources available through ECEI partners and OISD, c) identify the financial resources needed to implement those strategies, and d) have ECEI and OISD go out together as an expanded public/private partnership and get those resources. First steps have already been taken with the naming of team members by ECEI and OISD.

Orcas is well known for being innovative in the field of education. OASIS, Forest School, Montessori Public, Outdoor Education, Farm 2 classroom, The School Garden, are examples of just a few of the creative programs that our community has implemented. Historically, we put children first. We have an opportunity here to do that again! This path forward could ensure that Orcas Island continues to be seen as an innovative educational community willing to break the mold to meet the educational and developmental needs of its children and address the economic challenges faced by their families.